(40) What one learns in youth, one retains, while the opposite
is true of learning in old age. The Rabbis, elsewhere, liken
learning in youth to engraving upon a stone, and learning in
old age to writing on the sand.

26. R. Jose, the son of Judah (41), of Chefar Babli said, "He who
learns from the young, to what is he like? To one who eats unripe
grapes, and drinks wine from his vat (42). And he who learns from the
old, to what is he like? To one who eats ripe grapes, and drinks old
wine."

(41) A contemporary of Judah ha-Nasi.

(42) _I.e._, wine that is not forty days old, and not yet
clarified.

27. Rabbi Meir said (43), "Look not at the flask, but at what it
contains: there may be a new flask full of old wine, and an old flask
that has not even new wine in it" (44).

(43) Some texts read "Rabbi," _i.e._, Judah ha-Nasi (see
chapter II, n. 1).

(44) This verse expresses an opinion contrary to that of the
preceding one. The mind of a young man may be more mature
than that of an old man.

28. R. Eleazar ha-Kappar (45) said, "Envy, cupidity, and ambition take
a man from the world" (46).